CSAP 4.0: A determined strategy for climate and sustainability action at Penn

CSAP 4.0: A determined strategy for climate and sustainability action at Penn

In early November the Penn Sustainability Office released Penn’s Climate and Sustainability Action Plan (CSAP) 4.0, which lays out the University’s ambitious sustainability goals for the next five years, as well as Penn’s path toward carbon neutrality by 2042. CSAP 4.0 expands the University’s goals to include the University of Pennsylvania Health System, as well as other Penn properties beyond West Philadelphia.

In the five years since the Climate and Sustainability Action Plan 3.0 was released, some of Penn’s sustainability accomplishments include: launching the largest solar project in Pennsylvania, which will produce the equivalent of approximately 70% of the electricity use of Penn’s campus and UPHS facilities in Greater Philadelphia, as well as completing the first carbon footprint for all Penn-owned real estate, establishing its first air travel offset policy, adding six electric passenger vans to Penn’s fleet, and much more.

CSAP 4.0 lays out its ambitious goals in seven initiative areas: Academics, Utilities and Operations, Physical Environment, Procurement, Strategic Waste, Transportation, and Civic Engagement and Outreach. An Environmental Sustainability Advisory Committee (ESAC) began the review and goal-setting process for CSAP 4.0 in the summer of 2023, and a Sustainability Plan Advisory Committee formed that fall to provide input on the plan’s development. Read much more about the broad scope of CSAP 4.0, and Penn’s commitment to climate action, at Penn Today.